Colorado adopting new road surface standard

The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is implementing a new pavement texture standard. This revised specification is a response to feedback from the state's drivers with requirements for finishing Portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP). The main change is that the state is discontinuing the use of tining on all PCCP projects. In certain instances the grooved pavement texture produced by longitudinal tining can cause drivers to experience uncomfortable lateral vehicle movement. This is called gr
June 27, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Transtec carried out extensive tests to ensure that CDOT’s revised surface specification would ensure sufficient skid resistance and safety for road users
The 5406 Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) is implementing a new pavement texture standard. This revised specification is a response to feedback from the state's drivers with requirements for finishing Portland cement concrete pavement (PCCP). The main change is that the state is discontinuing the use of tining on all PCCP projects. In certain instances the grooved pavement texture produced by longitudinal tining can cause drivers to experience uncomfortable lateral vehicle movement. This is called groove wander and CDOT's pavement design programme manager Jay Goldbaum explained that the state fully-investigated the practicality of moving away from longitudinal tining to address this ride comfort issue. The specification update is a result of CDOT's long-term study of PCCP textures used within the state, including analysis of texture, friction, noise, and accident records. This study was carried out by specialty pavement engineering firm The 5943 Transtec Group. But the texturing methods now required by the specification should not have an adverse effect on the safety of CDOT's pavements. CDOT's updated PCCP specifications require contractors to finish their pavement by broom, burlap or turf drag, or diamond grinding. According to Dr Robert Rasmussen, PE, vice president and chief engineer of Transtec, "Drag and diamond ground textures can be simple to construct, and they are capable of producing smooth and quiet pavement surfaces."

In addition to meeting CDOT's standards for safety and ride comfort, "The new specification will be easier to monitor," said Goldbaum. The standards require pavement texture to be verified with CDOT's CP-77B volumetric method test.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Recycling advances from Wirtgen
    June 18, 2012
    German firm Wirtgen is retaining its lead in road recycling technologies – Mike Woof writes Tests on cold recycling with a new layer thickness using Wirtgen's sophisticated WR 4200 machine have shown impressive results according to the firm. The road construction and traffic authority Landesbetrieb Mobilität (LBM) Cochem-Koblenz commissioned a pilot project as part of its plan to optimise the cold in-place recycling process (CIR). The aim was to examine the extent to which the layer thickness can be reduced
    Read More
  • EU TEN-T programme to fund study for Sweden-Denmark road upgrade
    January 19, 2015
    The European Union's TEN-T programme has allocated US$1.15 million for studies to upgrade for the last remaining section on the main motorway connecting Sweden and Denmark. The 30km section, bypassing Ljungby in southern Sweden, is expected to increase driver safety, cut down on accidents and reduce travel time. Widening the road to motorway standard will eliminate a bottleneck, but the study will also consider ground protection and noise reduction measures. The studies will come up with an Environmen
    Read More
  • The US FAST Act: a job left unfinished
    April 4, 2016
    US roads and bridges are crumbling at an alarming rate as state governments wring their hands over the increasingly scarce money for repairs. Enter the FAST Act. But is it enough? US state transportation department officials, as well as highway contractors and operators, breathed a sigh of relief in December. For months the highways infrastructure sector waited anxiously to see where the necessary money for road projects would come from. For several years, the Highways Trust Fund – the usual way of paying f
    Read More
  • GRAA winning project profile: RJ122 Highway Rehabilitation
    June 24, 2013
    The State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil administers a wide network of highways and is faced with a significant maintenance management challenge of how to best make improvements having a perdurable impact. The maintenance management for the project needed to be done at a reasonable cost and needed to be able to withstand a heavy traffic flow. To meet such challenges, the Rio de Janeiro selected project RJ122 to undertake a new type of maintenance strategy. The RJ122 highway is a unique paving project in the rece
    Read More

Highlighted Content